T&T: potti-patrol

[C. Marin Faure]

 >It is a sad state of the engineering abilities of the country that  
we do not have poo pumpers that work and work for more than a few  
months.

Of the various types we have used over the years--- vacuum,  
diaphragm, giant macerator pump--- the only design I've seen that  
works more often than not is the kind that's like a giant dialysis or  
blood transfusion machine.  A flexible hose runs around the inside of  
a circular chamber and an arm with rollers on each end spins around  
and compresses the hose, thus pulling and pushing the contents  
through the hose.  I've heard the name of this kind of pump--- our  
boat has a small one for the shower sump pump--- but I can't remember  
it.  The advantage is that the moving parts never come in contact  
with the material being pumped and there is no gearbox or back-and- 
forth mechanism for a diaphragm-- the motor simply rotates the arm  
with the rollers.

Our marina has a number of these mounted on carts that can be wheeled  
to the boats.  It's the best setup I've seen yet, but the problem is  
maintenance.  Understandably nobody on the port staff looks forward  
to maintaining or fixing these things.  So they work great until they  
have a problem and then they sit for months at a time until someone  
finally deals with them.  Then they work great until some other  
problem arises and they sit again.  The problems are rarely with the  
basic pump mechanism.  Things like corroded connectors or switches  
and worn out or split pumpout hose ends seem to be the most common  
problems.  But they can sideline the units for months at a time  
because it's very easy for the staff in a big marina to find  
something else that needs doing to avoid working on the "poo pumps."

Our marina, being a city-owned facility, does not charge for the use  
of the portable or fixed pumpouts, even for visiting boats.  So at  
least that deterrent is nonexistent.  But $80 to pump out a holding  
tank as mentioned by another poster..... that would encourage almost  
anyone to dump their tank at sea.

I don't think the federal, state, or local governments should be  
responsible for installing and maintaining pumpout facilities  
anywhere except in parks that are operated by those governments.  I  
think that if enough boaters in an area feel pumpout facilities are  
important to have, then those boaters should financially support  
their installation and maintenance at marinas, resorts, etc. either  
through their moorage fees or a realistic pay-when-you-pump fee.  And  
if boaters are adamant about these facilities being operational and  
dependable 24/7/365, they should demand this of the owner.  But the  
fact that adding, improving, or maintaining pumpout facilities seems  
to be very low on almost everybody's totem pole, at least in the PNW,  
indicates to me that for the most part, boaters don't feel it's much  
of an issue.  I certainly don't within the common sense boundaries  
we've already discussed and in the area we boat in.  If we boated in  
different waters with different characteristics with regards to  
dispersion, current speeds, water exchange rates, etc., we would  
operate accordingly.


____________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington